Amarillo man admits shaking infant before she died

An Amarillo man pleaded guilty Friday to a child injury charge in the case of a 6-month-old girl who died at an Amarillo hospital 12 years ago.

Ernest G. Lopez II, 42, pleaded guilty in 181st District Court to a charge of injury to a child causing reckless bodily injury. He was sentenced to nine years in prison, with credit for time served.

Lopez was released from state custody Friday, 47th District Attorney Randall Sims said.

The Amarillo baby sitter whose sexual assault case gained national attention was freed on bond last year after an appeals court overturned his previous conviction and 60-year-prison sentence in the case.

Lopez was awaiting a new trial in the case of 6-month-old Isis Charm Vas, who died at Northwest Texas Hospital on Oct. 29, 2000. An autopsy showed the baby girl died of blunt force trauma after being shaken, authorities said.

In 2003, a Potter County jury found Lopez guilty of aggravated sexual assault of a child and was sentenced to 60 years in prison.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the state’s highest criminal court, later overturned Lopez’s conviction and sentence, citing concerns about his legal defense.

The appeals court called Lopez’s counsel “deficient” and said his attorneys failed to call experts during the trial to counter prosecutors’ medical witnesses.

“Had trial counsel done so, applicant argues there was a reasonable probability the jury would not have convicted him,” the opinion said.

Attorney Bill McKinney, who later represented Lopez in the case, said he had no comment after Friday’s hearing.

The case drew national attention after several media organizations, including ProPublica, PBS’ “Frontline” and National Public Radio, cited concerns about Lopez’s legal defense and medical evidence in the case.

As part of the plea agreement, Lopez was required to admit to the state’s allegations and agreed that the state could prosecute him again if he ever asserts that he did not commit the crime.

Lopez’s legal counsel also agreed to allow the prosecution to submit as evidence testimony from polygraph examiner Jimmy Stevens, who testified that Lopez admitted to penetrating the baby girl’s sex organ with his fingers to clean her and may have caused trauma during the act.

Stevens testified Lopez also admitted to slapping the infant after he found her listless and shaking her, court records show.

“He says he slapped her in the face more than once and because of his panicked state may have hit her too hard and shook her later too hard.

“He even acknowledged both were of sufficient force that it could have caused her death,” the polygraph examiner’s report said.

Sims said that, among other factors, he had to consider the time and resources he and his prosecution team would have needed to invest in pursuing more serious charges without any guarantee of a jury convicting Lopez. Sims said Lopez behaved well in prison and has admitted his guilt.

“He has admitted he caused physical injury to that child,” Sims said. “He said ‘I’m guilty of it.’ He said ‘The statements are true.’”